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The Monk and the Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living
The contemporary entrepreneurships are aided with vision and creativity on the part of the entrepreneur. This of course has been the case since the advent of entrepreneurship, yet the modern day entrepreneurs have more tools and opportunities to actualize their imagination into big businesses that are highly profitable and which can traverse beyond national boundaries. The purpose of entrepreneurship is to enable one to use his/her creative art to make a living while putting a special touch on their life. This paper seeks to discuss the new insight in the book The Monk and the Riddle: The Art of Creating a Life While Making a Living and how this fact differs from the common knowledge about entrepreneurship, what is meant by a deferred life plan as well as the general perception on Lennys evolutionary opportunity of engaging in entrepreneurship.
The most outstanding lesson from the text is that even as work should pay in terms of cash, it should also be experiential and satisfaction on the part of the person doing the work. This is contrary to modern day entrepreneurs who are only focused on making a lot of profit while not bothered about enjoying or experiencing the work they are doing. It can only be realized after an entrepreneur understands the sole purpose of work and integrates his/her belief with his/her work. The two aspects make a satisfactory work experience to new beginners in business. Whereas it has been a common belief that the church and city administration have responsibilities of leading change, this has failed. The 21st century, with fast and speedy technology, requires businesses to be on the forefront of change in many societies. However, the author opines that it is not so much about the modern technology but rather, about what the technology enables people to accomplish in their businesses. That is, the value is in what is delivered and not in how it is delivered. Zandy says that he has a Zen note, be the game to himself. It is oddly enough directly connected to his recollection of the Gandhi quote, be the change you want to see in the world.
The deferred life plan is the driving force behind the modern day entrepreneurs. It is a form of taking calculated risks and steps in investing in a venture. Most of the time, the venture has been more successful than failure. Yet, Randy who identifies Lenny as a greedy opportunist, later on learns from the deferred life plan that if he needs to become a successful businessman, he should want to do what he needs to do regardless of the requirements of the work. Examples are as follows: getting a profession, building a career, establishing himself, and becoming successful in business. In this era, things that sound common yet many people who contemplate entrepreneurship abhor the fact that they have to experience professionalism in their way to entrepreneurship. However, given the facts and statistics that exist about entrepreneurship in many parts of the world, it is not mandatory for everyone to go through the explicit steps as environed by Lenny. Instead, they can only become successful through creativity and by ensuring that they have an insight in what adds value to their lives.
The other aspect of a deferred life plan is that everyone should pursue what they want to do with passion. Being passionate about what one does is one way of ensuring that they become successful in their work. In fact, all people who have succeeded in their work are most of the time passionate about their work. Passion provides the much needed motivation when things are not going well in the business. For instance, in the text, Randy offers an overview of notable business figures that he had worked with in his career as an entrepreneur. It is this sharing that gives Lenny motivation to focus on the business despite his desperate need for financial assistance and the fact that he is not making any progress. Through sharing of his view and situation, Lenny receives financial assistance from Randy in what could be described as liquid networks.
Lennys fortune is transformed when he talks to various people about his business ideas. In fact, as noted by the author, Lenny benefits more ideally by talking to Randy and VC than he does with financial assistance. Thus, as the writer of the book observes, The big idea is the glue that connects with their passion and binds them to the mission of an organization. He continues noting, For people to be great, to accomplish the impossible, they need inspiration more than financial incentive. The opportunity that Lenny finally gets in pursuing his ventures is sustainable in the sense that he gets it in terms of ideas from experienced and famous business leaders. He is also willing to put into practice the business ideas that he gets from his colleagues. In a way, he decides to pursue the deferred life plan after it becomes clear to him that he still has an opportunity to become a famous entrepreneur. Thus he notes, it comes down to my realization over the years that business isnt primarily a financial institution, its a creative institution…business is about change.
The authors insight in the formation of a business is presented in three generic plays which must be environed first in any business venture. The first is the rocket ship which represents a great idea that a person must execute as soon as possible or risk losing it to the well funded bigger dreamers than he/she is. This only means that there are no unique ideas that a person may have but all ideas have hitherto been contemplated about or are being contemplated about by someone. What matters is the speed of implementation of a business idea once it comes to you and this is what makes difference between successful and unsuccessful venture entrepreneurs. Thus, the author argues that, ultimately being right or better positioned may be more important than being first.
The other insight the book gives in as far as business formation is concerned is faster, better and cheaper web of displacement in what the author describes as brick and mortar. In this regard, an entrepreneur can seek to learn from other people and execute a successful business venture. The last approach to entrepreneurship is the brave new world which represents the whole new idea which might be chaotic in its implementation and may change everything about entrepreneurship. The greatest lesson that one can learn from a liquid network is that leadership and management may be related concepts but are not identical as each has its own principles and purpose for implementation.
In conclusion, as leaders of entrepreneurship, there is a need to forge ahead with business ventures even when there is not sufficient information about the business. The important aspect in entrepreneurship is to stay small and flexible in the moment as a way of keeping close to the market and also learning from prospective customers while affording to make some missteps. The author rightfully notes that one has to be able to survive mistakes in order to learn and to learn in order to create sustainable success. It is true that once a person understands the market fully and has a full developed product, he/she will be able to experience a faster growth in entrepreneurship. Therefore, ultimate purpose is always to start a business venture with an identified market for your products or services.